Happy Holidays*!

*Spring holidays

In the Spring of 2022 I was squatting on my porch. I was looking over the mountain of dirt and rock and parked bobcats that used to be (and would soon be a better version of) my front yard. My herbs were the only plants I’d saved from the upheaval. They sat in the planters at my knees, grown old, bitter, and scraggly. I squeezed the pruners in my hand and I wondered if I could I go through with the chop they needed. It would mean letting go of everything. What would be left? Would they recover? Was I still talking about the plants?

I myself was also standing at a frightening precipice of letting go. After years of basing my value solely on what I could produce, there was only one way to see if I had any value outside of achieving: stop trying to do anything at all for a while. I made the chop.

Two weeks later, the herbs had renewed themselves with an abundance of tender, fragrant leaves. Two months later, the torn up front yard was lush with plants again. Two years later, after my scary chop and the difficult period that followed it, I feel I’m in the Springtime of my life. Letting go can feel like, and look like, death; not unlike like the skeletal landscape of winter. But it’s an important part of renewal.

The mountainous construction of our front yard on the left, and carrots sprouted from seeds on the right.

Spring has become a very sacred season to me over the past few years. It wasn’t always. As a child, I looked forward to eating Peeps. In my twenties, I looked forward to the 5th Avenue Easter Parade. Now, I can’t wait to see perennials and bulbs poke their sleepy heads out of the ground, and plant teeny seeds that I still can hardly believe become plants. The smell of wet dirt is an event that rivals Christmas in my anticipation. While Spring isn’t considered a holiday season, it now feels like one to me.

The official western Spring holidays aren’t a big deal to me in their traditional form, but like Constantine, I’ve shaped them to my own liking. After all, what are holidays but tradition? What is tradition but ritual? Rituals are about intention, reminders, and reverence. 

St. Patrick’s Day has become the day I plant my vegetable garden. This was initially established because it was the day I happened to have free. Now I realize that this is a nice way to pay homage to my Irish great grandmother, Momo Duffy, who was an avid gardener of legendary stature in my family. Here’s to you, Momo. 

Sprouts in the vegetable garden last spring.

Easter has become a celebration of Spring itself. Gardens, nature’s renewal and rebirth, Persephone’s return from the underworld, and eating eggs— deviled, with a Bloody Mary. This means that Chris and I eat snacks and watch garden documentaries and tours on YouTube. It has also become the day we celebrate our cat’s birthday, and we set up an Easter egg treat hunt for her. 

These new traditions feel like reminders of, and reverence for, faith and trust. Faith that the seeds will grow, and trust that strength and vibrance will return, just like nature in springtime shows me, year after year. 

In my excitement for the upcoming holidays St.Patricks Day Vegetable Seed Planting Day and Easter Garden Day/ Luffy’s Birthday, I broke ground on some springtime crafts this week. 

Chris says this looks like a mouse, and he’s not wrong.

Remember the cat hair I was saving? I made a copper wire hanger to put the hair in and hung it in the camellia tree in our yard (which seems to have 8-10 birds living in it!) I’ve become slightly obsessed with this copper wire because it’s so versatile. You can see another project with this wire, DIY hummingbird feeders, here.

Microgreen seeds in egg shells under a cloche for germination, and my wooden bead egg stands.

Then I went off on multiple egg projects, which kind of surprised me, but I’m into it. When I was a kid, I remember reading a kid’s craft book that had cress eggs in it. I always thought that was so intriguing, so I planted some microgreens in seed starter mix inside egg shells. I don’t know why I never did this until now! To hold the eggs, I made rings from monofilament and wooden beads.

The giant tulipiere in the 1996 film adaptation of Emma.

Don't laugh at my prototype, I swear it's gonna be cool!

From the time I first saw the 1996 film adaptation of Emma (the best one, IMO), I was enchanted with Mrs. Weston’s tulipiere. (Honestly the set dressing for every scene in that movie is incredible!) Tulipieres are extremely niche and expensive, so I’ve wondered for a long time how I could make one. I decided to try making one from an egg. It was tedious, but it went okay! I’m going to try another one with more holes I think, but I think this one came out pretty cute. 

My perennial seed trays on the left and a scene from Totoro on the right growing magic seeds, which is what I think of every time I plant seeds. If only mine grew as fast as the ones Totoro brought!

More directly aligned with the forthcoming festivities of this weekend’s Vegetable Seed Planting Day, I had some other-types-of-seeds action this week! Firstly, with the help of a way down low angle and some squinting, I saw teensy snapdragon and black eyed Susan sprouts out in the yard from the seeds I planted last month. VERY exciting! I also planted the perennial seeds that were cold stratifying in my fridge. These I planted in seed trays, rather than directly in the ground, in the hopes that they’ll be easier to water and protect from slugs and birds if they’re all in one place. I really don’t know, it’s all an experiment!

Here’s the best things I cooked this week:

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Orange Marmalade Glazed Chicken

This one surprised me, because I just wasn’t sure it was going to come together! I combined dijon mustard, lots of garlic, orange marmalade, and a little honey and smeared it on pan-seared chicken thighs. I baked the thighs with Yukon gold potatoes tossed with dried herbs, and served with dressed watercress and powdered parmesan (yes, packets, yes, from the pizza place!)

Sausage and Apple Butter

Roasting sausage in the oven makes it so un-messy and less likely to spring leaks, which I love. I roasted these bratwursts with cabbage, then tossed the cabbage with green apple, parsley, farro, red wine vinegar, and chopped Calabrian chilies. I put a little homemade apple butter on the side, which turned out to be the star.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas

Because you made it to the end of this very long email, and because it’s delicious, here’s the recipe for this: Roast the potatoes at 425F for 1.5 hours or until very squishy and caramel-y (for real— I know it’s so long!) Roast chickpeas tossed with olive oil and salt for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Open up the sweet potatoes and add curry powder, cinnamon (optional), and ghee or butter. Put chickpeas and plain greek yogurt on top. Finish with Serrano or jalapeño peppers, almonds, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.

Truly, with so much love, thank you for reading.

That’s all for this Fryday, see you next time!

Kiya